my idea for a new UV interface that would make it much more functional is based on a NET system rather than individual faces.

currently you have to assign a texture to a face(in face select mode) individualy this is hard and long work.

if there were a way to flatten a 3d object into a NET (like unfolding a dice into a flat t shaped plane) then texturing it as a whole life would be easier.

say i have a die mesh and i want to apply a texture with numbers 1-6 onto it i could use the NET function then select multiple pics and drop them in each face. or i could place 1 pic(with all the 1-6 in a similar shape to the net)and texture multiple faces from it.

actualy this system is not to far off the current version excpet for the fact that you can see multiple pics and faces at the same time(as a connected mesh rather than individual faces). also you can move one vertex to change the postion on the pic of many faces for seamles lining up quickly.

maybe i need to post some concept picks cause its hard to describe.

any comments please cause i think this could make a big difference to game blender and interactive blender. as well as for low poly modelling of any kind.

it is also achivable as it shouldn't be too much work to design.

tell me if you want me to post pics cause i will if you need.(just not tonight)

Something that, for example, finds the object's central axis (eg by averaging the x and y positions of all vertices in an object and then varies the z value), and then 'looks outward' at the vertices surrounding the object centre and puts the UV positions accordingly (like someone on a planet looking at the stars all around him and using it to draw a flat map).

first piece of paper
.__
|__| this shape when drawing on (current blender UV system)

draw half a face on one side and the other half of it on the other side. while folded

second piece of paper
.__
|__|
|__| this shape when drawing on (unfolded like my concept for uv)

draw a face on this piece of paper while unfolded

________________________________

now which one was easier to draw an acurate face.
i garentee the second one was as you only have to draw one picture and the edges are garenteed to line up when re folded

you can imagine this done with envelopes, dice, boxes and even mesh's in blender.(for detailed and very complex mesh's my method would make what would have been a slow face by face UV texuring project a very fast multiple face UV texturing project)

Well isn't this what the "U-key" command allows you to do? it tries to unfold a mesh.

Split your window and create a UVwindow (shift+f10)

Enter face select mode select all of the faces... hit "U" and choose the method of projection you want.
Now, I agree i doesn't do miracles neither, but one of the basis os UV mapping is to split your object into smaller groups of faces... select fewer faces... "U"... map... goes very fast. All you need to do is have all of the textures on one (big) single picture.

Try the unwrap python scripts that are floating around... They unwrap the mesh based on the degree of the angle between two poly's... Works great.. or if you use Wings3D for modeling like I do... try out the latest 0.98 with the VRML+UV export plugin for wings posted here not to long ago.
http://www.blender.org/modules.php?op=m ... opic&t=386And since you can open VRML files directly with blender... your set. If any solution for UV texturing is changed or added... I would look at the one in Wings3D for an example of a very good and simple implamentation.

i really like the idea of having plugins either built in to blender (to a point where once loaded you won't notice the difference from normal buttons or function)(ie you don't use a python interface you use a direct hotkey or have new buttons in the button menu)

i am against the development of new plugins when they replace a current function in blender. if they add to blenders functionality (such as Make Human) without replacing a current one then a plugin is appropriate.

this UV concept is realy a replacement for the current one.

but thanks the U key may be helpful.
(i wish there could be a button to push for the list of keys available in the current view)

Euhm... I think I see what you mean... you'de like some sort of bodypaint?
There is a very basic paint feature in blender (you can paint onto an object), so I guess the basics are there, in the code, waiting to be expanded.
-Paiting to different channels
-Speed up refreshing of the paint window
-Mor paint tools.
DOGWAFFLE IN BLENDER!
yeah!

i have coloured some of the lines and written things on it that are just there to help explain it all.

the letters a-f represent the faces. and the coloured lines around the edge of the NET view. sybolise being the same line. eg there are two red lines on the net view (that is really only one) and this also coresponds to the same colourd line in the 3d window.

you can select any face as the centre and all other faces will be drawn in clockwise order from that. and then that is continued till all faces are shown (the computer would avoid overlaps if its a complex mesh)

each face can have a differnt image(drag and sroped into it) or all faces can be UV textured off the same image.

was it basicly automatic or was each face done manualy.
because if it was done very quickly i will shut up!!! as blender doesn't need more modification

it is not a total redesign of the system that i am thinking of. just a way to have it unfolded more smartly. so that you could do the uv map that you made in just a few clicks rather than face by face. and so you can see the images on faces in a 2d view as well as a 3d view.

but yes it is very similar to the current design and would not replace the current options apart from th U key unfolding option that is curently terrible. my idea is really to unfold shapes with a number of SMART options such as

NET (like my idea where faces are not warped in shape when unfolded)
UV MAP (like yours where all Verts are joined still)

and some SUB options that change how each unfolds
CUBE
TUBE
SHPERE
etc where the computer chooses the best way to unfold it (kinda like now but much smarter and in conjuction with the NET or UV MAP option.)

its more of a new way to view the current UV mapping rather than re-inventing it completely